Sorry folks, not yet...you get Marlins top prospect Mike Stanton instead. I've got $20 that says that Strasburg is either redemption #9 or #10 so that the value of these redemption cards and unsold boxes keeps getting higher and higher as more cards are eliminated and the Strasburg remains a mystery. Think about it, if they announce him as #6, then the aftermarket value of 7-10 plummets. When it's still a mystery, they stay high up until the moment his card is announced. They maximize the value of that mystery at card #9 or #10 (it doesn't matter which).
Not that I particularly care, I just hadn't seen anybody post about this yet. Personally, I'm still holding out for an Austin Jackson or Brennan Boesch to make the cut, but it's looking less and less likely that it will happen, what with Strasburg, Carlos Santana, Pedro Alvarez (coming soon...) and other call-ups to be still in the mix for the 10 card set.
Actually, I'm much more interested in the regular Topps "Red Hot Rookies" campaign, which has already eliminated Jackson as a candidate because of his inclusion in the regular Topps Series 2 set. In the two years that they've run this redemption program there have been a grand total of ZERO Tigers, despite a Top-5 ROY finisher in 2008 (Armando Galarraga) and 2009 (Rick Porcello) and a flamethrowing righthander that Topps seems to be enamored with (Ryan Perry). Is this the year that the Tigers can break through into the set?
If it didn't happen for the players I've already mentioned, what is it going to take?
